Taranaki batter Bay of Plenty

Taranaki put over 40 points past Bay of Plenty on Sunday to boost their position in the ITM Cup Premiership, winning 41-3.

Taranaki put over 40 points past Bay of Plenty on Sunday to boost their position in the ITM Cup Premiership, winning 41-3.

The six-try rout featured tries from Super Rugby stars Blade Thomson, James Broadhurst and Charlie Ngatai. In a sour note though for the hosts, Thomson later departed with what appeared to be a serious leg injury.

Fly-half Marty McKenzie came away with 16 points, racking up 11 off the boot and adding the final try in the 78th minute to complete the thrashing.

The contest really was wrapped up by the interval, as Taranaki only added another single score in the second half after bursting out of the blocks into a 34-3 lead.

BoP number ten Dan Hollinshead ensured that the visitors at least had something on the board with his first-half penalty, but this was a long old night for the away side.

Kane Hames, Nathan Harris and Culum Retallick all had a runout but they couldn't handle the hosts' number of long-range attacks. Harris is expected to link up with the All Blacks to face Argentina this week.

Plenty's defence was just too soft in the opening half to compete, with Ngatai summing up the affair as he glided through with a burst of pace for try number six after 34 minutes.

The bonus-point win pushes Taranaki up into second spot behind Canterbury.